Eine schöne Überraschung, bei meinem Bilbao-Besuch im Mai 2018: Nach langem habe ich wieder einen Space Invader gefunden…
Space Invader – Calle General Castillo, Bilbao
Entwerten vs. Validieren
Eine semantische Differenz, die ein interessantes Licht auf den Zusammenhang von Denken und Sprache wirft…
#enableversusdisable #sapirwhorf
Japan meets Bavaria – Geisels Werneckhof
A posting of the wonderful foodblog troisetoiles brought Geisels Werneckhof right on top of my to-eat-list. The connection of bavarian and japanese cooking just sounded too good to be true.
The restaurant is located in Schwabing, inside a traditional building. After finding the entrance you open the door … and stumble right into the dining room. No wardrobe, no reception desk – just two rooms with tables. The inside of the restaurant is very traditional with a lot of wood, dimmed light and red pillows.
There are two tasting menus with 5 oder 7 courses (150/180 €). After a terrible sweet yuzu prosecco and consulting with the nice sommelière I went for the wine pairing (75/95 €).
The first two amuse showcased wonderful products: A great beef tatar and a piece of perfect scottish salmon. Both were perfectly tempered and underlined with subtle aromas.
One of my favorite courses of the whole meal: Two very humble dishes, showcasing great craftmanship. A fluffy and silky chawanmushi with waxy shrimps and a small cup of great dashi.
The silken tofu here was so great, that we actually had two of them – a perfectly elegant spread.
The scallop showed perfect product quality: Sliced, as tatar and a soufflé of the corail. The razor clam gave a wonderful, chewy texture contrast. The sprouts together with the calamansi connected the dots and gave depth to the whole dish. Wonderful.
Again, perfection: The lake trout was perfectly fresh and juicy. The vegetables gave a green crunch and the light, aetheric sauce gave depth and length.
A dish with excellent product quality, although having a slight insecurity about the doneness (my piece was a bit overdone (tail) but the other one (middle) was great and juicy). The sauce was very light and perfectly connected the fish with the vegetables.
The meat was of excellent quality and perfectly cooked (rosé but not raw any more). It was covered with a layer of melted cheese and crumbs, giving a bit of a strange, sandy sensation. The berries and the celery made the whole dish vivid – countering the heavy and simply wonderful sauce riche.
A perfectly, incredible meaty piece of beef, paired with a heavy and sticky barbecue-like whiskey sauce. Personally I would have preferred a fattier cut (actually this dish was done with wagyu short rib before…) but it still was amazing and endlessly tasty. Well there were vegetables too 🙂
A really impressing dish connecting the idea of cheese and dessert: Different carrots in different preparations, together with an ice cream of Brillat-Savarin (WON-DER-FUL), connected by cardamon. And look how beautiful – a piece of art.
Another piece of art: The looks alone are impressive. The „white“ notes of the components are perfectly illustrated in the setting. Classic western cooking on it’s highest level with an exotic, asian inspired world of taste. The connection of jasmine, cocos and galagant in the background is a match made in heaven.
The end: A german twist on classic dim sum, a rich and satisfying dumpling full of taste. Just great. And of course the homemade fortune cookies…
The wine pairing was not very exciting after all, in the end I even sent back (me, sending back!) an average glass of Asti that the sommelier recommended with the jasmine dessert. Next time I would go for a bottle or the sake pairing. I also had a rum afterwards that was extremely overprized (4cl of Pusser’s for 25€ – the price of the whole bottle).
But back to the food: This evening was one of those experiences that change your perspective on food. Tohru Nakamura’s cooking is creative, very refined and – most important – REALLY tasty. And it makes you completely forget the interior design 🙂 The connection of traditional cooking, german influences and ingredients and asian elements is impressive and pleasing in the best sense of the word. Go there!
Visit: March 2018
Michelin stars at time of visit: **
Budget: 250€/person (including drinks)
Location: 6/10
Service: 6.5/10
Food: 9/10
Swedish sushi art at Sushi Sho
I really love sushi. Since the selection in Vienna is quite limited, I am looking for good sushi shops basically everywhere I travel. Which leads to the quite odd result of going to a japanese restaurant in…Sweden. I simply could not resist when i read that there is a one Michelin-starred sushi bar in Stockholm: Sushi Sho.
The reservation through the website was smooth – and necessary since the sushi bar is quite small, having only 16 very tight seats.
It’s only 3 or 4 guys inside, preparing the food and serving. They offer an omakase menu for 685 SEK (65 euros) with an optional upgrade of Otoro (20 euros). There is a nice selection of wines and sake to go with – for the usual insane scandinavian prices 🙂
They use freshly grated wasabi and serve their evidently home made, really tasty gari.
Decent quality, though the soy curing gave the hamachi a heavy touch and took away the light softness of this fatty fish. The overall feeling was more baconish, but good.
This was absolutely great: Top-notch octopus, very soft and tasty. It was nicely paired with an excellent abalone, that was perfectly prepared and therefore had a gread balance between chewyness and softness.
A good palate cleanser.
Their signature dish. Everything is mixed, giving you a glibbery experience of umaminess, nicely accentuated by the onions and the puffed rice.
Then some nigiri of excellent quality followed: Their rice was rather soft and only lightly pressed, with a good rice-fish ratio. For my taste it could have been a bit more sour, but it was overall very good.
Lump fish roe is not my favorite: It is far too sandy and tasteless. This one was cured (in dashi, if i remember), which gave it more richness. After that the rice was changed into a more seasoned variation.
Then it came to tuna. They use ranched bluefin tuna from the Mediterranean. It was interesting to see the quality difference to the wild one I’ve eaten in Japan. Although the consistency was good (not watery, firm) it was silky and less tasty than wild one.
Before the final courses of the omakase menu they offer an upgrade with their selection of O-Toro as sashimi, nigiri or tartar at the end. As you can see the color and marbling is not perfect but still I wanted to try it and ordered some sashimi.
The fatty part of the turbot was nicely seared and set an intense and tasty ending to the menu.
Traditionally tamago is served at the end. This one was sweet and fluffy, quite good.
The final serving of O-Toro was good, although not excellent. The fat melted pleasantly, without being watery but in terms of taste it was not very intense. I guess good sushi in Japan spoils you forever 🙂
We spent two nice hours at Sushi Sho – having a good time, enjoying the busy bar, watching the chefs, having a chat with our neighbors and – of course – eating great sushi.
Visit: April 2018
Michelin stars at time of visit: *
Budget: 100€/person (including 2 drinks)
Location: 5,5/10
Service: 5,5/10
Food: 6.5/10
Japan in Madrid: Kabuki
It has become a passion of mine to look for good Japanese restaurants – whereever I go. So it seemed logical to look out for the same in Madrid too. Especially after experiencing the wonderful seafood quality in Barcelona. After some research on the net I decided to visit Kabuki for sushi.
The restaurant itself is not spectacular from the outside. We sat at the counter, directly watching the sushi chefs, which we liked very much. As often in Spain, they have a good selection of well priced cavas, that perfectly go along with the food.
We went for an omakase option and let ourselfs get surprised. Along with some supplements we had about 20 courses:
Kabuki Madrid – Outside 
Oysters 
Razor Clams 
Scallop sashimi 
Sea bass sashimi 
O toro sashimi with pan con tomate 
Mackerel sashimi 
Spicy tuna tartar 
Shrimp Nigiri plus head 
Partly seared tuna belly | Sardine with Lardo | Partly seared turbot Nigiri 
Quail egg and truffle Nigiri | Flat fish and caviar Nigiri 
Tuna tartar and Eel Nigiri 
Salmon Nigiri 
Scallop Nigiri 
Wagyu Nigiri 
Yuzu gel with crema and strawberries
I loved the seafood quality at Kabuki. The fish was of excellent quality – fresh and well tempered. In comparison to other good sushi places the tuna belly was a bit watery, but still nice. They do a lot of (partly) searing, which gave the nigiris a more „rustic“ touch. Fine for the winter though.
The rice was ok – for my taste a bit too hard and grainy. Tastewise it lacked some acidity and that certain fullness you would expect from very good sushi rice.
Their signature nigiri are the quail egg and the wagyu burger, which were good – but in my view the traditional ones were better balanced (especially the wagyu was…well, a burger on rice). A real surprise was the dessert: I doubted that I would like the gel-cream combination, but it was just amazing. Especially the cream was incredibly rich and creamy and the yuzu gel added a wonderful fresh taste.
Kabuki offers good sushi for a reasonable price, so I would definetely come again. Arigato 🙂
Visit: October 2016
Michelin stars at time of visit: **
Budget: 150€/person (including wine)
Location: 8/10
Service: 7,5/10
Food: 8/10
Französische Kinder ersticken nicht
Ein Hinweis, der mich beim Auspacken jeder Playmobil-Packung auf’s Neue erheitert: Französische Kinder wissen offenbar, was sie essen können und was nicht. Denn der Hinweis, dass in Playmobil verschluckbare Kleinteile enthalten sind „ne concerne que les USA“ – er betrifft nur die USA 🙂
Super Gerete
Phonetische Schreibweisen sind definitiv eine Lösung.
Gesehen im 20. Bezirk.
Paradiesische Ruhe
Wem wohl dieser morbide Produktname eingefallen ist? Besonders locker, nährstoffreich und ideal für Würmer und anderes Getier…
Nicht alles, was glänzt ist Gold
Besonders hübsch ist der Sicherheitshinweis bei diesem Spiel: „Das Produkt enthält kein echtes Gold“ – schade eigentlich 🙂
British noblesse at its best: The ledbury
The 50 best restaurants list bought The Ledbury to my attention. When visiting london we went down to Notting Hill to enjoy the cuisine of chef Brett Graham.
The restaurant is a former pub with a high ceiling and an open dining room. Although it was full this evening, the atmosphere was comfortable and not too loud.
The wine menu offers a great selection with attractive prices. I spotted a 2009 Coche-Dury Aligoté – a wine I’ve been wanting to enjoy for a long time, for a price you would buy the bottle on the market.
The wine service was amazing by the way – head Sommelier Seamus Sharky (who is a great fan of Austrian wine 🙂 ) made our evening really fun, sharing some insights and stories.
We enjoyed the tasting menu:
A wonderful dish around a perfect artichoke. Only looking at this you can see the wonderful quality and preparation. The nashi gave a nice texture contrast, bound together by the rich and creamy sauce and the grated foie gras…which is the better parmesan by the way.
I am not a big fan of beetroot, but here it was used in paper thin slices – giving this earthy vegetable a great elegance and freshness. Below you could find smoked eel in perfect quality.
Yes! Yes! Yes!
Again exquisite product quality: The roasted notes of the scallop were nicely reflected and enhanced by the roasted cauliflower.
A really memorable dish: The aubergine was treated in a way that it was almost meaty, very intense. The black tea and olive glazing gave the dish a lot of depth and smoky aromas. Wonderful.
A great seasonal pigeon dish. Although served very rare, it did not have a very „gamy“ taste – it was meaty and clean. Especially the leg was incredibly delicious. The vegetables brought fall season perfectly onto the plate.
A fruity dessert with amazingly creamy buttermilk.
You remember „After Eight“ chocolates? I did 🙂
Our dinner at The Ledbury was really amazing. We enjoyed the atmosphere and the great service. But most noteable we had a wonderful dinner with plates usually centered around one perfect main ingredient, made to bring out the flavor profile of this ingredient to the best.
Visit: Ocotber 2016
Michelin stars at time of visit: **
Budget: 250€/person (including wine)
Location: 7/10
Service: 7.5/10
Food: 8/10